Bath-rubber



M. W. SCHLOSS.

BATH RUBBER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 25, 1920.

1,357,006, Patented Oct. 26,1920.

WITNESS: I N VEN TOR.

A TTORNEYJ' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MEYER W. SCHLOSS, OF NEW YORK; N. Y., ASSIGNOR T0 TREO COMPANY, INC., A COR- PORATIONIDF NEW YORK.

Barn-RUBBER.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Oct, 26, 1920,

Application filed February 25, 1920. Serial No. 361,100.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MEYER W. SOHLOSS, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of New York, in the county of New York, and State of New York, have invented certain new and'useful Improvements in Bath-Rubbers, of which the following is a full. clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to bath rubbers, and similar articles, the object of the invention being to provide an article of this character which shall be more eflicient than articles of a similar nature heretofore-provided. A bath rubber is required to-have a certain amount of thickness or body in order to hold the soap and water and to afford the necessary friction required for thoroughly cleaning the surfaces upon which it is rubbed. For this purpose bath rubbers when in the form of cloths have usuall been made of material such as Turkis toweling'. The objectionable feature of such material is in the fact that when it is woven sufiiciently fine and close to afford the necessary body it is not sufiiciently elastic or extensible to be thinned so that it can be readily applied to the cavities of the ear and other irregular surfaces of the body,with the result that such, places cannot be thoroughly cleansed with a cloth of this character. The object of my invention is to provide a rubber or cloth which will have the desired thickness or body for ordinary rubbing purposes and which will be sufficiently elastic to enable it to be stretched out to a thin condition so that by manipulation with the ends of the fingers the cloth can be easily forced into the cavities of the car, around the eyes, nose and other similar inaccessible places of the body. Accordingly my invention consists of a bath rubber made of textile fabric, preferably knit-' ted, and having incorporated in it strands of rubber in such a manner that the contractile force of the rubber willbe normally exerted to crowd the threads of the fabric together and thus produce a thick structure having adequate body, but which will readily yield to a stretching force to a very considerable extent, thereby correspondingly reducing the thickness of the fabric and adapting it for cleaning those features of the body which are ordinarily diflicult of access.

This structure may be made up in various forms, two of which are illustrated and described herein as will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings- Figure '1 is a plan view of a wash cloth composedof the special materials comprehended by my invention, and

Fig. 2 is a face view of a bath mitt made of the same materials.

The peculiar material of which the articles are made is a knitted fabric, the threads of which may be cotton, wool or silk and of a pattern comprising the parallel cords a connected together by groups of cross threads or loops 6 separated by spaces 0, the groups 6 between one pair of cords a a being staggered with respect to those between the next adjacent pair so that the structure as a whole will have a checker-board appearance. The cords a inclose rubberstrands which are incorporated in the fabric while under tension and are held therein by a covering of thread loops formed in a chain so as to readily open and close when the rubber strands are extended or contracted. The cords, threads, or loops 6 interlock with the threads which cover the rubber strands. A wash cloth is made by cutting out a suitable size and shape of this fabric and applying a binding such as all around its edge. Under normal conditions the rubber strands exert their contractile force to crowd the threads together and thus produce a thick cloth having adaquate body to serve the ordinary process of a wash cloth. The presence of the cords or ribs (1 in the fabric also adds to the efficiency of the cloth as a: scrubber. In its normal condition the cloth can be used on all evenportions of the surface of the body and when it is desired to press the cloth into cavities of the ear, nose or eyes, it can be stretched locally with the fingers to such an extent as to become very thin and these thin portions can then be forced by the fingers into these ordinarily inaccessible features of the body.

I have found a very convenient form of bath rubber to be that of a mitten such as illustrated, for instance, in Fig. 2. Such a mitten when made of the same material as the wash cloth will retain itself firmly in place upon the hand so that there is no'danger of losing it in the bath. By opening the fingers the mitten can be stretched to any desired degree of thickness for purposes 1 above mentioned but for still greater convenience I may apply a tip e to the outer end of the mitt which will be of ordinary thin inextensible fabric, the rubber strands being omitted therefrom. This tip may be as thin as the fabric of a handkerchief so that by manipulation with the tips of the fingers the cavities of the features can be it is made of a symmetrical shape, either side of the mitten can be applied opposite the palm of the hand and the mitten can be used on either hand. In other words, it is reversible. Obviously a pocket for the thumb may be added, but this is not considered necessary.

my signature.

-I claim: a

1. A bath rubber comprising a textile fabric composed of parallel thick cords connected together by cross threads arranged in comparatively thin groups, said cords inclosing rubber strands the normal contractile force of -which compacts the threads of the fabric into a thick body, while when extended the fabric is comparatively thinned.

2. A bath rubber in the form of a mitten or pocket; constructed of textile material having elastic strands incorporated therewith and extending in directions transverse to the axis of the mitten or pocket.

3; A bath rubber in the. form of a mitten or pocket, constructed of textile material having elastic strands incorporated therewith in a manner to afford an elastic structure and provided with a comparatively thin inelastic tip section for the purpose set forth.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe MEYER W. SCHLOSS. 

